Unsolved!
Unsolved!

Author: Craig P. Bauer

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-05-22

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 1400884799

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Watch Craig Bauer discuss the Zodiac Killer’s cipher on HISTORY’s new miniseries The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer In 1953, a man was found dead from cyanide poisoning near the Philadelphia airport with a picture of a Nazi aircraft in his wallet. Taped to his abdomen was an enciphered message. In 1912, a book dealer named Wilfrid Voynich came into possession of an illuminated cipher manuscript once belonging to Emperor Rudolf II, who was obsessed with alchemy and the occult. Wartime codebreakers tried—and failed—to unlock the book's secrets, and it remains an enigma to this day. In this lively and entertaining book, Craig Bauer examines these and other vexing ciphers yet to be cracked. Some may reveal the identity of a spy or serial killer, provide the location of buried treasure, or expose a secret society—while others may be elaborate hoaxes. Unsolved! begins by explaining the basics of cryptology, and then explores the history behind an array of unsolved ciphers. It looks at ancient ciphers, ciphers created by artists and composers, ciphers left by killers and victims, Cold War ciphers, and many others. Some are infamous, like the ciphers in the Zodiac letters, while others were created purely as intellectual challenges by figures such as Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard P. Feynman. Bauer lays out the evidence surrounding each cipher, describes the efforts of geniuses and eccentrics—in some cases both—to decipher it, and invites readers to try their hand at puzzles that have stymied so many others. Unsolved! takes readers from the ancient world to the digital age, providing an amazing tour of many of history's greatest unsolved ciphers.

The Friar and the Cipher
The Friar and the Cipher

Author: Lawrence Goldstone

Publisher: Broadway Books

Published: 2005-02-15

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0385515154

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A compulsively readable account of the most mysterious manuscript in the world, one that has stumped the world’s greatest scholars and codebreakers. The Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious tome discovered in 1912 by the English book dealer Wilfrid Michael Voynich, has puzzled scholars for a century. A small six inches by nine inches, but over two hundred pages long, with odd illustrations of plants, astrological diagrams, and naked women, it is written in so indecipherable a language and contains so complicated a code that mathematicians, book collectors, linguists, and historians alike have yet to solve the mysteries contained within. However, in The Friar and the Cipher, the acclaimed bibliophiles and historians Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone describe, in fascinating detail, the theory that Roger Bacon, the noted thirteenth-century, pre-Copernican astronomer, was its author and that the perplexing alphabet was written in his hand. Along the way, they explain the many proposed solutions that scholars have put forth and the myriad attempts at labeling the manuscript's content, from Latin or Greek shorthand to Arabic numerals to ancient Ukrainian to a recipe for the elixir of life to good old-fashioned gibberish. As we journey across centuries, languages, and countries, we meet a cast of impassioned characters and case-crackers, including, of course, Bacon, whose own personal scientific contributions, Voynich author or not, were literally and figuratively astronomical. The Friar and the Cipher is a wonderfully entertaining and historically wide-ranging book that is one part The Code Book, one part Possession, and one part The Da Vinci Code and will appeal to bibliophiles and laypeople alike.

The Gambler and the Scholars
The Gambler and the Scholars

Author: John F. Dooley

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-05

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 303128318X

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In May 1917, William and Elizebeth Friedman were asked by the U.S. Army to begin training officers in cryptanalysis and to decrypt intercepted German diplomatic and military communications. In June 1917, Herbert Yardley convinced the new head of the Army’s Military Intelligence Division to create a code and cipher section for the Army with himself as its head. These two seminal events were the beginning of modern American cryptology, the growth of which culminated 35 years later with the creation of the National Security Agency. Each running their own cryptologic agencies in the 1920s, the Friedman-Yardley relationship was shattered after Yardley published a tell-all book about his time in military intelligence. Yet in the end, the work they all started in 1917 led directly to the modern American intelligence community. As they got older, they became increasingly irrelevant in the burgeoning American cryptologic fraternity. Topics and features: * Examines the lives of three remarkable and pioneering cryptologists * Offers fascinating insights into spies, codes and ciphers, rumrunners, poker, and military history * Sheds new light on interesting parts of the cryptologists’ careers—especially Elizebeth Friedman, whose work during World War II has just begun to be explored * Recounts several good stories, i.e., What if the Friedmans had gone to work for Herbert Yardley in his new Cipher Bureau in 1919? What if Yardley had moved back to Washington to work for William Friedman a decade later? This enjoyable book has wide appeal for: general readers interested in the evolution of American cryptology, American historians (particularly of World War I, the inter-war period, and World War II signals intelligence), and historians of—and general readers interested in—American military intelligence. It also can be used as an auxiliary text or recommended reading in introductory or survey courses in history or on the related topics.

Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece

Author: Robert C. Williams

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing

Published: 2024-08-20

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13:

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The Voynich Manuscript resides in a library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. No one can read the manuscript, break its cipher, or identify its provenance. Nothing like it exists. No one mentions it until 1912. Why? Golden Fleece tells the story of London antiques dealer Wilfred Voynich, his relations with British intelligence, and the provenance of his 1912 cipher. In this book, author Robert C. Williams posits that Voynich’s manuscript was not an early modern find but a modern creation by Voynich himself and others using materials acquired from an antiques warehouse in Florence, Italy. The tale of Voynich and his manuscript suggests a modern hoax comparable to Piltdown Man that combines history, espionage, revolution, and cryptography. About the Author Robert C. Williams is a retired Russian historian who has taught history at Williams and Davidson College and Washington University in St. Louis. He has also served on the boards of Agnes Scott College and Wesleyan University and is a co-founder of History Associates Incorporated. He has a special interest in choral and barbershop singing and his family camp on Kezar Lake in Maine. He and his wife Ann married in 1960 and have three children and four grandchildren. He is the author or co-author of eighteen books, one of which, Russian Art and American Money, 1900-1940, was nominated by Harvard University Press for the Pulitzer Prize.

The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript

Author: M. E. D'Imperio

Publisher:

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13:

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In spite of all the papers that others have written about the manuscript, there is no complete survey of all the approaches, ideas, background information and analytic studies that have accumulated over the nearly fifty-five years since the manuscript was discovered by Wilfrid M. Voynich in 1912. This report pulls together all the information the author could obtain from all the sources she has examined, and to present it in an orderly fashion. The resulting survey will provide a firm basis upon which other students may build their work, whether they seek to decipher the text or simply to learn more about the problem.

History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis
History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis

Author: John F. Dooley

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-23

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 3319904434

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This accessible textbook presents a fascinating review of cryptography and cryptanalysis across history. The text relates the earliest use of the monoalphabetic cipher in the ancient world, the development of the “unbreakable” Vigenère cipher, and an account of how cryptology entered the arsenal of military intelligence during the American Revolutionary War. Moving on to the American Civil War, the book explains how the Union solved the Vigenère ciphers used by the Confederates, before investigating the development of cipher machines throughout World War I and II. This is then followed by an exploration of cryptology in the computer age, from public-key cryptography and web security, to criminal cyber-attacks and cyber-warfare. Looking to the future, the role of cryptography in the Internet of Things is also discussed, along with the potential impact of quantum computing. Topics and features: presents a history of cryptology from ancient Rome to the present day, with a focus on cryptology in the 20th and 21st centuries; reviews the different types of cryptographic algorithms used to create secret messages, and the various methods for breaking such secret messages; provides engaging examples throughout the book illustrating the use of cryptographic algorithms in different historical periods; describes the notable contributions to cryptology of Herbert Yardley, William and Elizebeth Smith Friedman, Lester Hill, Agnes Meyer Driscoll, and Claude Shannon; concludes with a review of tantalizing unsolved mysteries in cryptology, such as the Voynich Manuscript, the Beale Ciphers, and the Kryptos sculpture. This engaging work is ideal as both a primary text for courses on the history of cryptology, and as a supplementary text for advanced undergraduate courses on computer security. No prior background in mathematics is assumed, beyond what would be encountered in an introductory course on discrete mathematics.

The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript

Author: Gerry Kennedy

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-08-28

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 159477854X

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An examination of the many theories surrounding this enigmatic text, apparently written in code • Reveals the connections between this work and the Cathars, Roger Bacon, and John Dee • Explains the cryptanalysis methods used in attempts to break the code • Includes color images from the manuscript juxtaposed with other medieval writings Since its discovery by Wilfrid Voynich in an Italian monastery in 1912, the Voynich Manuscript has baffled scholars and cryptanalysists with its unidentifiable script and bizarre illustrations. Written in an unknown language or an as yet undecipherable code, this medieval manuscript contains hundreds of illustrations of unknown plants, cosmological charts, and inexplicable scenes of naked “nymphs” bathing in a green liquid that some interpret as a symbolic depiction of human reproduction and the joining of the soul with the body. Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill explore the mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, examining the many existing theories about the possible authors of this work and the information it may contain. They trace the speculative history of the manuscript and reveal those who may be connected to it, including Roger Bacon, John Dee, and the Cathars. With the possibility that it may be a lost alchemical text or other esoteric work, this manuscript remains one of the most intriguing yet enigmatic documents ever to have come to light. Gerry Kennedy is a freelance writer and has produced a number of BBC Radio 4 programs, including one on the Voynich Manuscript in 2001. Rob Churchill is a professional writer who has written scripts for many production companies, including the BBC and Thames Television. Both authors were consultants for the BBC/Mentorn Films documentary The Voynich Mystery. They live in London.